The senior Williamstown native laced up her sneakers, took the floor and scored.

And boy, did she ever score.

Delsea senior Haley Parks averaged 21.74 points per game, hit double digits in each of her team’s 27 games and helped the Crusaders finish the year with an undefeated record in the Tri-County Conference.

Parks is The Daily Journal’s Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

“Coming into the season I wanted to average 18 points per game,” Parks says. “To get higher than that was just icing on the cake.”

The 18-year-old entered the season after a disappointing junior campaign. During soccer practice in October of 2013, Parks collided with the team’s goalie.

Snap.

That’s what she heard.

“It was kind of a freak accident; we were both going for a 50-50 ball,” she recalls. “I heard it and was nauseous. It was numb. The ambulance came and took me to the hospital.”

She broke the tibia and fibula in her right leg. Doctors casted her leg up to the hip. After six weeks, she moved to a walking boot.

When it came off, Parks did physical therapy to make it back to the court. When she did, it was clear the transfer from Williamstown High wasn’t healthy.

“I was basically playing on one leg, hopping around,” she explains.

With a full offseason of recovery and preparation, Parks readied for her senior season. She was out to improve the team’s 8-18 mark from the prior season.

When practices began, the 5-foot-10 guard and forward was the focal point on offense.

There was only one problem. Parks looked for her teammates more than her own shot.

“In practice, we ran a circle play for her,” coach Rob Briles says. “It’s a triple screen for her to get a three.

“(Point guard Asya Alba) gets the ball to her right at the top of the key. She’s open and she passes it.”

Briles immediately halted practice.

“I said, ‘What are you doing?!’” he remembers. “She was more concerned other people would be upset if she shot the ball.”

Once she embraced her need to shoot, the team was far from upset.

Opponents however, would have preferred her pass.

“She presented matchup problems for us,” Cumberland coach Todd Jorgenson says. “With her size and she can handle the ball or shoot from the outside. For us, our guards weren’t as tall as she was. She was just an excellent basketball player.”

When teams decided to double team the high-scoring Parks, she used her knowledge of the game to maximize her natural unselfish demeanor.

“She didn’t try to play through double teams,” Jorgenson elaborates. “She wanted the whole team included. If we were able to deny her the ball on a possession or two, she’d simply go to the boards and get her touches that way. ... She’s always able to find the open person.”

Parks hit the 1,000-point mark this season but she says it wasn’t the fondest memory of her season.

Instead, it was the bond she shared with her teammates.

“How close my team got was really the most memorable thing,” Parks says. “Last year we were losing a lot and we wanted to come back from that perception.”

Briles credited her ability with his team’s turnaround.

He also saluted the countless hours she put in to get back on the court.

“She worked like crazy to get back on track,” he explains. “It was a really tough road for her. There were days I’d look at her and she’d be really upset. She put in an unbelievable amount of time and deserved everything that happened because of it.”

The scoring came, night after night. But it was never at the top of Parks’ list of priorities.

Sometimes, she even felt uncomfortable.

But she poured in the baskets, to the tune of 43 percent of the team’s points for the season. On seven different occasions, Parks scored as many or more points than the entire opposition’s roster.

“It was difficult at times because I’m the kind of player that when I catch the ball I say, ‘Oh, this girl’s open,’” Parks says. “I realized in some games they weren’t going to win without me looking to score. I figured it out and started doing it.”